DET. TIGERS 2008 REG SEASON SCHEDULE & SCORES

Monday, August 18, 2008
Orioles 16, Tigers 8
Another barrage for the Birds
Mora homers twice and drives in six runs in 22-hit attack that sends Tigers fans home early.
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- On the scale of reacting to disappointment, there's something more disturbing than fans' caring but booing.

It's called quietly leaving early, like after five innings.

Leaving early because the sun is hot and the pitching is bad or because, to put it plainly, why not take off when it's the Orioles by eight midway through and there's no sign the Tigers will find anyone who'll get hitters out?

The Birds eventually won, 16-8, on Sunday, getting 22 hits to cap a Melvin Mora hitting clinic. But after five innings, it looked like the crowd of 40,566 had just been told it left the iron on at home.

A large percentage of it filed out at that point.

Maybe those departing just went up to the merry-go-round or to get a burrito, or simply to seek some shade until, per Sunday custom, the kids were allowed to run around the bases after the Orioles did.

But there haven't been many textbook head-for-the-hills games like this one was.

For one thing, on both sides, it was an absolutely horrid day of pitching. For another, when the Tigers erased a 5-1 deficit with four runs in the second inning, their next chess move was to give up four in both the fourth and fifth.

"It was a total wipeout day for the pitchers that pitched," manager Jim Leyland said. "A tough day for all of them. Consequently, we got embarrassed. Everything we threw up there, they hit it hard.

As Tigers starter Zach Miner said of his cameo appearance, "They got a couple of hits, then a couple more. It was kind of over before it even began."

Leyland said of Miner, who lasted 1 1/3 innings, "He threw a couple of good pitches that got smoked, and he threw some (really bad) pitches that got smoked. He didn't have much. But both starters were terrible."

Lost in the rubble was the fact that Edgar Renteria had a four-hit game. Not lost, nor overlooked, was the outstanding series that Mora had. The Orioles' third baseman went 5-for-6 on Sunday with two home runs, two doubles and six RBIs. He also scored four runs.

For the three games, he went 10-for-13 with 10 RBIs. Leyland wishes it hadn't been such a "comfortable" 10-for-13, however.

"I'm not talking about getting inside to where you're hitting people or any of that stuff," he said, "but when you have really hot hitters and you don't make them uncomfortable, they'll wear you out, and that's what he did to us."

The Orioles, of course, marveled at it.

"He hit the ball like he knew what was coming," manager Dave Trembley said, "and he probably did, too. But this was just an unbelievable game. I'm going to get a tape and play it over and over during the winter."

Chances are he'll skip the part where his starter, Garrett Olson, fritters away a four-run lead by walking three in the second, including Placido Polanco with the bases loaded.

Despite 15 hits of their own, including an infield single by Dane Sardinha that ended an 0-for-17 slump, the loss for the Tigers ended a home stand that wasn't as bad at its final game, but a far cry all the same from being even close to good.

In 10 games against teams they needed to mop up against, the Tigers went a blah 4-6. If anything got mopped up, it was the slim chance they had when they got back home of making some noise in the American League East.

"Obviously we wanted to make up some ground," said Brandon Inge, "but it didn't happen. You can't harp on it. You really can't. Play hard the next day, there's not much else you can do."

True.

"But it's happened way too many times," said Leyland, "that we've not been able to maintain a streak because of pitching."

The fans know that. They're smart. In fact, it could have been what they were thinking when they decided they'd seen enough.

You can reach Tom Gage at tom.gage@detnews.com

08/19/2008 1:51 AM ET

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Tigers surge late to beat Rangers
Sheffield's career homer No. 493 starts comeback
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

ARLINGTON -- Nobody has won more games at Rangers Ballpark than ex-Ranger Kenny Rogers. He feels a lot better doing it as a visitor.

Games like Monday night's 8-7 Tigers win are a pretty good example why.

"Every game I pitched in this park, I would expect to give up three or four runs, even if you pitched well," Rogers said. "Because it's that explosive of a ballpark for offense. You're going to give up some runs. You're not going to shut many guys out here. I know that going in.

"It's just a park where you never know what's going to happen. Pitching here for a full season is extremely difficult, mentally, if not more physically."

The physical challenge was evident in the extreme humidity that had Rogers changing shirts every inning. The mental challenge was also evident in a game whose twists might've fit the rides down the street at Six Flags.

Rangers starter Scott Feldman gave up a 10-run first inning in his last start six days earlier at Boston. On Monday, he carried a two-hit shutout and a 3-0 lead into the seventh inning. Three batters later, he was out, and the Tigers had the tying run in scoring position.

Gary Sheffield's 493rd home run started the rally that eventually had the Tigers carrying an 8-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning. By the time Fernando Rodney struck out American League MVP favorite Josh Hamilton to end the inning, the Rangers had the potential tying run on second.

"I think there were two good things about tonight: The fact that we came back after being down, and it looked like we could've given it up," manager Jim Leyland said. "We could've come in a real sad bunch tonight, but we didn't. We came in the right way."

Considering the conditions, they weren't sure they were going to get a chance to go out and play in the first place. Rain came down virtually all afternoon until letting up soon before game time, leaving a draining, humid night in its wake. With the Tigers having come off a long Sunday afternoon loss at home, they went through the first six innings looking like they had the "blahs," as Leyland likes to call them.

Sheffield's second-inning soft line drive and a Brandon Inge ground ball accounted for Detroit's hits through six, both of them singles. Meanwhile, Rogers was simply trying to keep the game close, while RBI doubles from Gerald Laird in the fourth and Michael Young in the fifth began building out the lead.

"It doesn't matter if you're a finesse guy or a power guy," Rogers (9-10) said. "The difficulty to pitch deep into ballgames and give your team a chance [here], it's harder."

The humidity drained Rogers physically, but also helped keep the ball from flying as much as it can in this park. That, and a sharp sinker, worked in Rogers' favor while he racked up seven strikeouts over six innings.

Still, he was trailing when he delivered his final pitch. Carlos Guillen's infield single leading off the seventh didn't do much to change the flow. The 2-2 sinker that Sheffield drove down the left-field line and inside the foul pole for his 13th home run of the year did.

"He's a big guy -- he hides the ball well," Sheffield said of Feldman. "It looks like a pitch right down the middle until you swing at it, and it's in on your hands a little bit. Basically, I just made an adjustment."

The game took a dramatic turn from there. Once Matt Joyce followed with a double into the right-field corner, Feldman was out. Frank Francisco entered to strike out Edgar Renteria and nearly did the same to Brandon Inge. Left with a full count, Francisco (2-5) went at him with an offspeed pitch, which Inge lined to left for the game-tying single. Another full count to Granderson ended with a fastball lined into the gap in right-center field and the Tigers suddenly in front.

With the bases loaded an inning later, Granderson found the opposite gap for another triple to clear the bases and build an 8-3 lead. A Texas-sized rally off Kyle Farnsworth in the bottom of the inning essentially nullified that rally.

One night earlier, Rays manager Joe Maddon made headlines with his decision to intentionally walk Hamilton with the bases loaded and a four-run lead. With Detroit's lead down to one and Milton Bradley waiting on deck, the Tigers never considered that option. But it was drastic enough to go to Rodney in the eighth, hoping his change of speeds could fool one of baseball's most dangerous hitters.

It worked. After Hamilton fouled off back-to-back two-strike fastballs at 97 mph and watched a changeup in the dirt, he went down swinging at another offspeed pitch. It was just Hamilton's 11th strikeout with two outs and a runner in scoring position this season, a situation in which he was hitting .375 entering the night.

" tried to make a good pitch to him and not leave anything hanging," Rodney said. "I know this is a good hitter. That's what I worked on tonight."

A hit-by-pitch to Byrd and a wild pitch moving him into scoring position created a little more drama in the ninth, but Rodney set down Gerald Laird swinging out of the zone at a four-seam fastball before Chris Davis flew out to finally end this wild affair.

The Tigers shook off their blahs, and Rogers shook off his personal four-game losing streak. In the process, he stretched his career wins lead here to 17 over Rick Helling. He could get another shot here when the Tigers visit in September.

Still, he'll be glad to make his next start in Kansas City.

"When you're pitching here, you just want to hang around long enough to where your offense can get going," Rogers said.

[i]Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Last edited by GoGetEmTigers on Wed Aug 20, 2008 4:49 am; edited 1 time in total

08/19/2008 11:15 PM ET

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Nine-run inning equals big win for Tigers
Joyce homers twice; Galarraga earns victory over Rangers
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

ARLINGTON -- Armando Galarraga got the message. So did Matt Joyce. The Tigers, in turn, got the win.

Galarraga didn't try to prove to the Rangers that they made a mistake in trading him. That case had long since been proven. Instead, Galarraga pitched his normal game Tuesday before Joyce pounced on Rangers mistakes for two home runs and another three-run play to make a winner out of him.

It was the same steady, level performance as always from Galarraga, but it was the same sudden scoring outburst as the night before that put the Tigers on top. In the end, Detroit's 11-3 win at Rangers Ballpark was almost as much about hustle as it was about focus.

For Joyce and his fellow hitters, hustle proved huge. For Galarraga, it was all about the latter.

"This was like the same [as any other] start," Galarraga said afterward. "I'm not trying to change anything. I'm not trying to think too much. I didn't have any pressure. It's the same old thing."

It meant a little more than that. After all, this was the team for which Galarraga struggled to try to crack the big leagues, only to be sent to Detroit in a Minor League trade just before Spring Training. His performance all season has been enough to torment Texas for the move, and he said on Monday that if he had still been with the Rangers, he'd be having this kind of season at Double-A or Triple-Arather than getting a chance in the Majors.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland also had his comments Monday, saying it would be "the biggest mistake of his life" for Galarraga to pitch this game like he was trying to prove something more to the Rangers. On Tuesday, he saw the usual Galarraga form.

"I thought he had very good poise," Leyland said. "I thought he had concentration on the task at hand. I thought he tried to pitch to hitters with a game plan, and I thought he handled it very, very well."

Same old performance, just a slightly different reaction afterward.

"It's a little special," he said. "I'm not going to say no. It's special, because the other team traded me."

Galarraga didn't retire the side in order in any of his six innings, but limited his damage to singles and walks to take a 1-0 lead into the sixth before one big swing changed his game. Milton Bradley's one-out walk and Marlon Byrd's single put the go-ahead run on base to give Texas its first real threat of the night. Galarraga retired Gerald Laird for the second out and put Chris Davis in an 0-2 hole, but he hung a 1-2 slider to Davis.

"It looked like he tried to backdoor a slider that just flattened out and stayed up," Leyland said.

Galarraga was a teammate with Davis for a brief while last year at Double-A Frisco, where Davis homered 12 times in just 109 at-bats over 30 games. He knew what Davis could do with a mistake pitch, and the drive to left-center field made it a reality for a 3-1 Rangers lead.

"Yeah," Galarraga said, "it was a bad pitch. Not the right location."

That gave Rangers starter Vicente Padilla a chance to take out his frustrations on the Tigers for a bad loss earlier this season in Detroit. Three batters later, the Tigers had taken the game back, thanks to Joyce.

Leyland had recently talked with his rookie outfielder about the promise he saw in him as a prospect. Leyland also said that he wanted to see more "tenacity," as he put it. Joyce said that he could do that.

"He's a young player that obviously has some pop in his bat," Leyland said. "He's just going through the process, learning what it's about up here. You have some good days, and you have some bad days."

He had shown that in recent days, Leyland said. Still, tenacity had little to do with the bulk of his damage on this night. His fifth-inning solo homer down the right-field line had been the only run of the game until Davis' blast. With Detroit trailing, he (Joyce) came up in the seventh as the go-ahead run after Carlos Guillen's leadoff walk and Gary Sheffield's single.

Like Davis, Joyce pounced on a slider and hit the ball a long way. Unlike Davis, Joyce's shot went more towards right field than center, ending up on a 422-foot trip into the right-field upper deck to give Joyce his first multi-homer game as a Major Leaguer, not to mention his first home runs since July 21.

"I haven't really had a bunch of big home run games," Joyce said. "I never really considered myself a power hitter. I just try to hit line drives. Coming up through the Minors, you're taught to hit line drives and keep learning, keep progressing and getting better. I'm still learning."

Edgar Renteria's seventh homer of the year in the next at-bat knocked Padilla (12-7) out of the game, but the change only temporarily halted the onslaught. Joyce was the 12th batter of the inning when he came back up, this time with the bases loaded against Josh Rupe.

Joyce seemingly was jammed into the third out on a fly ball. However, left fielder Brandon Boggs had stopped en route to the ball, which fell in between him and center fielder Josh Hamilton while all three runners came around to score. Joyce, running out the fly ball, ended up on second.

"I was still a little frustrated that I popped it up," Joyce said. "I probably could've run a little harder, but I still ran it out. Things like that, even when you're frustrated and the game gets to you, that's still putting the effort in and running things out."

Galarraga (12-4) took over the Major League rookie wins lead over Braves hurler Jair Jurrjens, the subject of a well-critiqued Tigers trade from last fall. The long seventh inning helped end his night, but he had nothing more to prove.

"I've proven myself, that I can pitch in the big leagues," he said. "That's important for me. I got traded. I'm not the first one. I'm not the last one."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Tigers 11, Rangers 3
Joyce homers twice in Tigers' win
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

ARLINGTON, Texas -- They rank one-two.

At this stage of the Tigers' season, their postseason chances shriveled like a raisin, not all is lost.

Too many games have been, of course, no one is disputing that. But the Tigers have found some recent solace in individual exploits, plus two consecutive victories including Tuesday night's 11-3 outcome, buoyed by a nine-run seventh over the Texas Rangers.

You know, the team that let Armando Galarraga get away.

And that gets us back to one-two.

With Galarraga beating his former team to improve his record to 12-4, and with Matt Joyce hitting two home runs, one is again reminded of the answer to this question: Which two players have landed in the Tigers' lap this year as their most pleasant surprises?

Galarraga and Joyce, of course. One and two.

Galarraga was among the first cuts in spring training. Joyce was supposed to be in a developmental year at Triple-A Toledo. He has developed all right, but at the major-league level, not the minors.

There has not been a game this year more than this one, however, that has showcased the combined value of the two. Galarraga pitched six innings for the victory. After six, he was down 3-1 because of Chris Davis' three-run home run in the sixth, After 6 1/2 innings, he was up 10-3 and headed for the victory.

Joyce accounted for the first run of the game with his 11th home run of the season, a drive down the right-field line off losing pitcher Vicente Padilla (12-7). His 422-foot, three-run shot in the seventh put the Tigers back in front to stay.

Joyce would have had seven RBI if his bases-loaded fly ball to left-center, one that dropped between hesitant outfielders, had been called a hit instead of an error. But the scorer ruled it an error on left fielder Brandon Boggs, who called for the ball, but pulled back at the last moment.

Before the game, manager Jim Leyland was asked about Joyce.

"He looks like a rookie at times, other times he doesn't," Leyland replied, "That's what this game is all about. I like him a lot.

"They work him over once in a while. They do that to everybody. He'll be fine. As long as he doesn't outthink himself, he'll be good."

Suffice to say that Joyce didn't outthink himself Tuesday night and neither did Galarraga, who didn't take to the mound the mind-set that he was going to get even with the Rangers for trading him. Leyland hadn't even liked Galarraga's comments that he was looking forward to this start, saying they were excessive. So he was pleased that he pitched his normal game after all.

All was going smoothly for Galarraga before Davis gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead in the sixth with a three-run home run. Only once had the Rangers ventured past first base in the first five innings and that one time didn't do them much good.

That's not to say the Rangers hadn't hit anything hard. They hit some shots but they were catchable shots.

Case in point, the first inning. With runners on first and second and one out, Milton Bradley's laser was caught by second baseman Ramon Santiago, subbing for Placido Polanco, who has a sore right knee.

The threat, such as it was, ended when Galarraga struck out Marlon Byrd for the third out.

Santiago helped out with an outstanding play behind second in the fourth, flipping the ball to shortstop Edgar Renteria for the third out.

With the assistance of another liner that was caught in the sixth, it even looked as if Galarraga might get out the chance that the Rangers cashed in with for their brief lead. He didn't, but when the Tigers answered with a nine-run seventh, the impact of Davis' home run also shriveled.

Last edited by GoGetEmTigers on Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:28 am; edited 1 time in total

08/21/2008 12:31 AM ET

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Tigers buried by homers in Texas
Robertson yields five roundtrippers in loss to Rangers
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

ARLINGTON -- Nate Robertson's last start here didn't see him retire a Ranger, and it landed him on the 15-day disabled list with a tired arm. His pitches in his return Wednesday landed all over the outfield seats of Rangers Ballpark, and left the Tigers wondering whether it's a tired arm, an injured arm, bad execution, a crisis in confidence or something else behind his rough outings.

Wednesday's 9-1 loss is the latest in a series of struggles Robertson has been having virtually all season. Forget about those struggles for a moment, however, and the latest outing is plenty to tackle in itself.

Just two Tigers in the last 53 years had served up five home runs in a game, none since the Red Sox put up five homers on Jeff Weaver July 24, 1999, at Tiger Stadium. Don Mossi was the other, in 1961.

All eight hits off Robertson went for extra bases, making Robertson just the seventh Major League pitcher since 1956 to give up five homers and no singles in a game, according to research on Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org. In that same span, only Florida's Ricky Nolasco has given up more hits in a game without yielding a single, allowing nine over 4 2/3 innings on April 17 of this season.

Add that damage to Robertson's stats to date, though, and his ERA jumped back over the 6.00 mark, to 6.09, second-highest among Major League pitchers with enough innings to qualify for an ERA title behind Seattle's Carlos Silva. Opponents' slugging percentage against the left-hander is up to .533, bettering only the .538 clip against Cincinnati's Aaron Harang for highest in the Majors.

By itself, Wednesday's outing could be brushed off in part to a night of bad pitches in a park where the ball can fly. Wednesday's game-time temperature was 75 degrees, well below normal for Texas this time of year, but the humidity remained high after late-afternoon rains.

"No place is a place for pitches in those areas," manager Jim Leyland said, "but this place is really dangerous. That's basically what happened."

Still, the stats of a summer-long struggle put the outing into context, and put both Robertson and the Tigers in a position of searching for answers on what to do. What wasn't evident in the stats was clear on the look on Robertson's face as he manned the mound.

"My slider was off tonight," Robertson said, "and it's been very inconsistent all year long. It's not doing much. It just spins, stays up and gets whacked."

Leyland did not want to discuss any decisions after the game, but he said he wants to check with Robertson and the team medical staff about his health and other potential clues. Robertson has said he's healthy up to this point, and Leyland said he doesn't think there's an injury. Still, he has to check.

"I'm going to look into it," Leyland said, "see if there's a problem somewhere, if there's something physically going on that I don't know about. I don't know. I'll look into it, because he's having a tough time. You don't like to see anybody get hit like that. You just don't."

That sentiment was echoed.

"I feel for him a lot," catcher Brandon Inge said. "When you go through a year like this, every single thing seems to compound your thoughts on how bad the year's going. Believe me, I've been there."

Like Robertson, Inge struggled his first season after signing a lucrative multi-year contract.

"You just got the contract and you feel like you're letting the team down," Inge said. "I understand how he's feeling. I've been through it. He's a good pitcher, and this is just a spell he's going through. It's a tough year for him, and hopefully he can put it right behind him and keep moving on."

The home run portion of the barrage began with Travis Metcalf's two-run drive to left to open the scoring in the second inning, driving in Marlon Byrd, who reached base after Edgar Renteria had dropped his popup behind second base. Metcalf entered Wednesday batting .158 (6-for-38) for the season, including 3-for-23 against left-handed pitchers, but he pounced on an inside fastball that caught too much of the plate and was left waist-high.

Brandon Boggs and Michael Young, both batting right-handed, hit back-to-back blasts to lead off the third inning. Both were opposite-field shots to right field -- Boggs on a hanging slider off the plate, Young on a fastball. Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley delivered their knockout combination in the fourth.

Hamilton's 29th home run of the season traveled an estimated 402 feet to right field before Bradley swung and missed at Robertson's next pitch, the second and final swing-and-miss Robertson induced in his outing. Bradley made up for it by driving the next pitch 430 feet to center.

That was it for Robertson, who gave up eight runs (six earned) over 3 2/3 innings with four walks. Metcalf added his second homer of the game with a seventh-inning shot off reliever Aquilino Lopez.

Fourth-inning doubles from Ramon Santiago and Miguel Cabrera accounted for Detroit's lone run off starter Kevin Millwood (7-7), who went the distance on a six-hitter.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Rangers 9, Tigers 1
Rangers' power surge helps defeat Tigers
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Help, they need somebody. Help, not just anybody.

It does not appear to be on the way, however.

On a night Nate Robertson gave up five home runs, the first Tigers lefty to do so since Don Mossi in 1961, the Tigers still couldn't look to Dontrelle Willis for future assistance.

In his second start for Triple-A Toledo, Willis allowed five runs, three earned on eight hits and five walks.

And if it's Freddy Garcia you're thinking might provide some help down the stretch, he won't make his organizational debut until Friday. According to Dave Dombrowski, Garcia will throw "one or two innings" in Lakeland, Fla.

So what the Tigers have is what they'll go with and in Wednesday night's 9-1 loss to the Rangers, well, it wasn't good.

Maybe it's something between Robertson and this ballpark, though. The last time he pitched here, June 5 of last year, he allowed six runs on four hits and a pair of walks without retiring a hitter.

This time, he lasted five batters into the bottom of the fourth, or in the parlance of the night, two home runs into the bottom of the fourth.

The long ball hadn't been a problem for Robertson. Hits have been. Runs have been. But not home runs. Robertson hadn't allowed more than two home runs in any of his previous 45 starts, dating to last year.

So this bombardment came out of the blue.

As mentioned, Mossi was the last Tigers left-hander to give up five home runs in a game -- a game he won, by the way. Jeff Weaver was the last Tigers right-hander to do it, serving up his handful against the Red Sox on July 24, 1999.

Other than losing both games, plus Frank Catalanotto being a Tiger in that Weaver game and a Ranger in this Robertson game Wednesday common threads don't exist.

Perhaps this is a common thread, however. When Weaver gave up his five home runs, the Tigers fell further out of it -- 17 ½ games out of first. With this loss, compounded with victories for both the White Sox and Twins, the Tigers are 11 ½ games out with 35 remaining.

Hopeless situations both.

Robertson (7-10) gave up eight runs, six earned, on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings. He was, in a word, pounded. The Rangers did not hit for the cycle against him, though. None of the hits he allowed was a single.

The Rangers hit back-to-back home runs twice in the same game for the first time since 1989. They had never done it in their current ballpark

Robertson also allowed a double and two triples. The first triple didn't hurt him. He got out of the first inning without allowing a run. But a two-run home run on a 1-2 pitch with two outs by Travis Metcalf, a .158 hitter, prevented him from escaping damage in the second inning as well.

Then came consecutive home runs from Brandon Boggs and Michael Young to start the bottom of the third.

The Tigers scored their only run off Kevin Millwood (7-7) in the fourth on doubles by Ramon Santiago and Miguel Cabrera, cutting the lead to 5-1 meaning that with the way they'd turned the two previous games around in later innings, they still had a chance.

Not for long, though.

With two outs in the fourth, Robertson gave up consecutive huge home runs to both Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley, the latter being the longest of the night at 430 feet, and that was pretty much it.

Robertson was relieved after Bradley's home run, the Tigers' bullpen allowing just one run the rest of the way.

In some ways, it had been a Don Mossi night. In other ways, not. Mossi improved his record to 8-1 in the game he gave up five. Help wasn't on the way. He was the help.

08/23/2008 1:18 AM ET

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Rodney, Tigers overcome KC's late rally
Series-opening win ends in mad dash at home plate
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

KANSAS CITY -- Miguel Cabrera's drive to the Dodge Avenger beyond left field should have been the highlight of the night. Instead, the defining shot was a simple bounce off the backstop.

It ended up being another addition to the adventures of Tigers reliever Fernando Rodney this season. This time, it worked out in their favor.

"In most circumstances, you've got to close those games with a little less excitement than that," manager Jim Leyland said of Friday's 4-3 win over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

He obviously wasn't referring to the tape-measure home run power of Cabrera.

On a night when Rodney struggled with his command, turning a three-run lead into a game that had the would-be tying run breaking for home, he couldn't have aimed his final pitch any better if he'd tried. For a changeup that nearly hit batter Ross Gload, who had four hits on the night, it was an ironic twist. It was also a very fortuitous carom off the backstop that allowed catcher Brandon Inge to throw out David DeJesus at the plate.

"There's two signs [at the backstop], and it hit directly in the middle," Inge said. "If it had hit an inch or two off to the right or left, it would've kicked sideways instead of coming somewhat back. I mean, it stayed in the warning track. It didn't come real far back. If it had kicked off to the side, we would've had no chance."

The circumstances that got him there were somewhat familiar for the mercurial Rodney, but he had been dominant of late, with nine innings of three-hit, scoreless ball and 13 strikeouts. Plus, he was entering with a 4-1 lead, thanks in part to two home runs from Cabrera and 6 2/3 scoreless innings from Justin Verlander.

Back-to-back doubles from Mike Aviles and Esteban German leading off the inning took care of the scoreless streak, both hits coming after Rodney fell behind in the count. Leyland came out to the mound to talk with him after German pulled an offspeed pitch down the left-field line for an RBI.

"I told him to bear down, don't worry about the runners and go after the hitters," Leyland said. "That was it. At that point, I wasn't the happiest camper."

Rodney pounded the strike zone with his first-pitch fastball to DeJesus, then missed inside with his next four pitches to put the potential tying run on base. Then, with disaster seemingly within reach, he seemed to bear down. He struck out Royals cleanup man Jose Guillen with fastballs, the last of them a 97-mph four-seamer that rose out of the strike zone and sent Guillen down swinging.

Up came Mark Teahen, and down he went with the same result, again chasing that fastball out of the zone. And just as quickly as Rodney had gotten into trouble, he was back in command of the game.

Billy Butler stepped in as the Royals' last hope, and Rodney missed on back-to-back fastballs before Butler lined another one into left-center field. Had Tigers outfielders not been playing deep to deny the extra-base hit, DeJesus might have scored. Instead, left fielder Matt Joyce cut off the ball before it could start rolling in the gap, forcing DeJesus to stop at third.

He didn't stay there long. Rodney started Gload off with a changeup but threw it well inside, forcing Gload to dodge the ball in order to let it skip to the backstop.

The bounce clearly went right for the Tigers, allowing Inge to charge directly back and pick up the ball on a slide play he practiced on bunts in front of the plate in his old days as a catcher. But the runner also did the Tigers an unintentional favor.

"We went and checked it on tape and saw I didn't get a big enough lead off the bag," DeJesus said after the game. "I could've got a little bit more, and that would've helped me out. I don't know if I'd have been safe or out but that would've given me a better opportunity to beat the ball home, so what can you do?"

In Inge's case, you fire back in the direction of home plate and hope that someone is covering.

"It's kind of a blind throw," Inge said. "You throw that on a whim, hoping that the pitcher did come back. I know where home plate is, so I'm running back and I slide, grab it and I'm flipping it, trying to throw it waist-high right over top of the plate. If he's there, he's there. If not, that's his problem. He's supposed to be there."

Rodney was there, and once he got the ball, he was left waiting for DeJesus to arrive.
"That's a Spring Training play," Leyland said. "You work on it in Spring Training."

That's how it's supposed to be executed. It's just not how a game is supposed to end -- a pitcher closing out a game on a ball.

"You won't see many games end like that," Leyland said.

For Leyland's sake, he hopes not. That's why he plans to talk with Rodney on Saturday about the outing. He wants to make sure that Rodney comes to a game ready to close out on any given night, throwing strikes.

"I'm not saying he doesn't," Leyland said, "but you have to come to the park every day thinking you're going to be pitching the ninth inning to close the game. You have to know who you're going to be facing. You've got to know what you're going to try to do, and you have to be prepared for that first hitter you face. And you've got to throw strikes. There's no such thing as a part-time closer. And I'm not talking about Fernando. I'm talking about anybody."

Lately, Cabrera's power has proven to be a full-time threat. His 26th and 27th homers of the season were both solo shots to open and close Detroit's scoring on Royals starter Brian Bannister. He put Detroit on the scoreboard leading off the second inning with an opposite-field loft to right, before Carlos Guillen doubled and scored on Joyce's groundout later in the inning.

Bannister retired nine of 10 batters after Placido Polanco doubled in Curtis Granderson in the third inning, but Cabrera struck again with two outs in the sixth. This time, he pulled a Bannister fastball with enough authority that it hit the netting in front of the aforementioned Avenger being displayed above the waterfalls in the left-field power alley, an estimated 416-foot ride.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

08/23/2008 11:41 PM ET

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Miner, Cabrera strike gold vs. Royals
Righty has strong outing; slugger hits another jack in win
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

KANSAS CITY -- Miguel Cabrera took another Royals pitch to the woodshed Saturday night. Then the Tigers brought the ball back.

The second part was almost as incredible as the first.

"It's amazing," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said of Cabrera's estimated 434-foot home run in Detroit's 4-0 win over the Royals Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium. "It all happened so fast."

For that matter, so did Saturday's shutout of the Royals.

The Tigers have challenged the depths of this ballpark through two days of this three-game weekend series. If not for some netting, Cabrera would've hit a Dodge Avenger on display above the left-field fountain Friday night on his 416-foot homer. During pregame batting practice Friday, he cleared another vehicle, this one a big blue truck, on a similar pedestal closer to left-center. Marcus Thames cleared the netting and hit the Avenger during early batting practice Saturday afternoon.

Cabrera's shot on Saturday night likely topped all of them. Kyle Davies' 1-0 fastball to him in the sixth inning went to the left of the vehicles, but it traveled far enough to land in a construction zone, where work continues on renovations to the ballpark. The land has been excavated, and there's a wooden structure out there.

"He wanted the ball," Leyland said. "I don't know how we're going to get it. We might need a backhoe to get it. I'd get it for him. I just don't know how to get up there."

Somebody must have. As Cabrera was talking with reporters after the game, third-base coach Gene Lamont walked up and handed him a ball -- supposedly the ball. Cabrera examined it and smiled.

"Thank you," he politely told Lamont.

Indeed, Cabrera wanted the ball -- not for how far it went, but for what it meant. It was his 100th RBI, marking the fifth straight season he has reached the century mark. He has kept the baseball from his 100th RBI in each of those seasons.

"I'll put it where I have the other four," Cabrera said.

To him, it's a sign of consistency. And at this rate, very few can match it. Only Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, Bobby Abreu and David Ortiz have longer active streaks, though none of them had reached 100 RBIs this season as of Saturday. But then, only three players -- Josh Hamilton, Ryan Howard and the injured Carlos Lee -- had 100 RBIs entering Saturday.

The fact that this 100 RBI season came in his first year in the American League, adjusting to a new group of pitchers, added to the honor. It's a sign of how quickly he has adjusted, since 43 of those RBIs have come in the 35 games since the All-Star break.

"I feel comfortable, like I felt in the National League," Cabrera said. "I have a better idea what I'm going to do."

His home run was actually the only run-scoring hit the Tigers had all night. Up until that point, the Tigers had built a 3-0 lead on some of the best manufactured offense they've shown all season.

Gary Sheffield's leadoff double in the second and a well-placed groundout to the right side from Matt Joyce led to an Edgar Renteria sacrifice fly to open the scoring. Carlos Guillen drew a leadoff walk in the fourth, then advanced on a wild pitch and a Davies balk to set up Joyce for a sac fly. Once Curtis Granderson walked leading off the fifth, Placido Polanco singled him to third for a Magglio Ordonez sac fly to right.

"We executed tremendous," Leyland said. "We got the guy over, got the guy in, hit the sacrifice fly. It really was a nice, clean game for us."

A lot of that, Leyland said, began with the efficient, effective pitching of Zach Miner (7-4), who rebounded from a second-inning exit from his last start to beat the Royals for the second time in seven starts. Not only did he scatter three singles while allowing only one runner in scoring position, he needed just 88 pitches to toss seven scoreless innings.

"I tried to go about my business the same way I had," said Miner, who now has 18 1/3 scoreless innings for his career at Kauffman Stadium. "It worked the first few times, and last time it didn't. I felt a little stronger today, so I was able to get away with some mistakes a little more."

Cabrera didn't let Davies get away with his mistake. And as Cabrera sat in the dugout following the home run, he flexed his arm to show off his muscles.

"That was for Leyland," Cabrera said.

Leyland thought it was for hitting coach Lloyd McClendon, who had reminded Cabrera after his previous at-bat to stay on the ball.

Cabrera had been retired in his first two at-bats, both with a runner in scoring position and a chance to get to 100 RBIs. Instead, he drove in himself.

"It's a good number," Cabrera said of 100 RBIs. "[It means] you're consistent. You go every year and do the same job."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Miguel!
_________________
"Contrary to what everybody else thinks, I still think I can come back and help this team."

Todd Jones on shoulder injury.

08/24/2008 7:36 PM ET

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Lead, chance at .500 falls in KC
Tigers blow early three-run lead as Rogers allows seven
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

KANSAS CITY -- The Tigers had a three-run lead Sunday after an inning and a half and a chance to add on more. Even after giving up a couple runs, Kenny Rogers settled down to retire eight out of nine Royals.

They had a series sweep and the .500 mark seemingly within their grasp. Then, like a couple of hits and a couple of pitches, it eluded them.

Or more appropriately, like Joey Gathright on the basepaths, this 7-3 loss to the Royals changed direction in a hurry.

"We came out good today," manager Jim Leyland said. "Our guys were out there early getting ready. They were pumped up. We just let one get away. We gave them too many outs. We didn't add on some runs. We hit some balls hard, right at people. And what should've been a really good game for us turned out to be a not-so-good game for us. And that's a shame, because you can't really let those get away when you're fighting your tails off. You can't do it."

Just when Tigers fans allowed themselves to wonder what happened to that Royals team that swept them in Detroit to open 2008 and start them on their season of frustration -- then did it again in Kansas City the following month -- that team resurfaced. After Detroit had essentially dominated all but one inning of the first two games of this series, Kansas City took the momentum on this game and forced the Tigers to make plays. On this day, they didn't make enough, and the Royals ended a seven-game losing streak.

A potentially big opening inning ended up with a lone run and another runner thrown out at the plate for the third out. Left fielder Marcus Thames, starting for the first time in a week, saw a ground-ball single glance off his glove, setting up a game-tying sacrifice fly in the fifth. A Rogers fastball hit the dirt in front of home plate, skipped off catcher Brandon Inge's wrist hard enough to leave a black-and-blue mark and then soared over the backstop to let in the go-ahead run. A leadoff walk and a line drive over Thames' head set up a three-run sixth that broke open the game, including a potential rundown at the plate that turned into a run.

"A couple plays just didn't go our way," Inge said. "That's just how it goes sometimes. Not much you can do about it."

Or, as Leyland put it, "For whatever reason, we got a little case of the yips there for a while."

In terms of the postseason, the fate of the Tigers could pretty much fit the same description -- not much they can do. A winning record is still clearly in their control, though it's still very much in question over these final five weeks.

Sunday was the second chance for the Tigers to pull back to break-even in the three weeks since they fell under .500. The last time, they fell back into the hole with three straight losses to the Blue Jays at home, and they spent the last week and a half crawling back out. After largely dominating the Royals for the previous two nights, Sunday seemed to be their opportunity.

Ten of Detroit's first 16 hitters reached base safely off Royals starter Brandon Duckworth, called up from Triple-A Omaha to make his first big league start of the season, to put him in a 3-0 deficit. Other potential runs were left on the bases, but the opportunities hardly seemed scarce.

Once Duckworth finally got the third out of the third inning, however, the Tigers put just one runner on base in the middle innings. They didn't have another runner in scoring position until the seventh.

"You just felt like at the start of the game, we'd have more runs than we did," Leyland said. "We got three runs the first two innings, and no more runs. We don't feel like our offense would get shut down like that."

By the time that offense awakened, it was facing a Royals bullpen with which it had become all too familiar seeing early in the year to close out games. Thanks to two chaotic innings, Kansas City relievers had a healthy lead to protect.

Jose Guillen's second-inning solo homer and Mark Teahen's sacrifice fly had whittled the lead to one in the second, but it didn't feel like a rally. For that matter, neither did the tying and go-ahead runs in the fifth until a look at the scoreboards showed otherwise.

Rogers (9-11) retired eight out of nine Royals until Alberto Callaspo singled with one out in the fifth. Mike Aviles' ground ball through the left side moved him to second before Thames' error added one base apiece and set up Esteban German's game-tying sac fly.

After Rogers threw a first-pitch breaking ball in the dirt to David DeJesus, the next pitch was more velocity, more skip and a bad hop for Inge, allowing Aviles to score easily.

A Guillen walk leading off the sixth set up the rally that put it away. Billy Butler's line drive went right towards Thames, who struggled to get a read on it before backtracking too late.

"I messed it up. No excuses," Thames said. "I came on it, thought it was going to be hit a little shallower than it was, and it kept carrying over my head. It cost us some runs, and I hate that more than anybody."

It might've been nullified had pinch-runner Gathright's cutting ability not surprised everyone more than the line drive. Shortstop Edgar Renteria fielded Miguel Olivo's ground ball and fired to third to try to catch Gathright straying too far off the bag. By the time third baseman Carlos Guillen got the ball, however, Gathright and turned and taken off for home.

"He's very quick, fast," Guillen said. "He was coming back to third. I said, 'Throw me the ball,' and he was going to home plate."

Said Leyland: "It's like he was running a down-and-out pattern."

Instead, it was the Tigers left feeling a little down and out themselves.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Monday, August 25, 2008
Royals 7, Tigers 3
Rogers' struggles continue
Team faces decision on veteran lefty, whose Tigers' tenure might be coming to end.
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Are these the final weeks, if not days, of Kenny Rogers as a Tiger?

They could be either by his own volition, if at 43 he doesn't want to commit to another season after this one. Or if the Tigers feel they're out of it and there's a contending team out there who wants him.

Remember, there's another trade deadline Aug. 31.

Either way, the subject of Rogers' future has become increasingly pertinent with the unlikelihood of the Tigers' reaching the postseason. It was just as pertinent Sunday when the Tigers lost, 7-3, to the Kansas City Royals -- with Rogers taking the loss.

He didn't pitch as badly as his line indicated. In six innings, Rogers gave up seven runs, six earned, on eight hits. He didn't pitch a particularly good game, but neither did the Tigers play a particularly good one behind him.

If Marcus Thames hadn't made an error in left in the fifth or misjudged a flyball in the sixth, the Tigers might not even have lost. On the plus side, however, Thames made an outstanding catch to end the Royals' sixth with the bases loaded.

For those and other assorted blunders, it wasn't the Tigers' best defensive game, to be sure.

"We got the yips for some reason," manager Jim Leyland said. "We gave away too many outs. You can't let that kind of game get away."

Ordinarily talkative, win or lose, all Rogers said this time was, "I have nothing good to say."

Perhaps he was upset at the run-scoring wild pitch he threw or the two walks with no outs he allowed that led to runs. There's no indication he senses something might be in the works, and possibly it isn't, but several factors hiss -- age, salary and the Tigers being double-digit games out of first place -- that possibly it is.

Rogers is 9-11 with a 5.09 ERA. His base salary is $8 million, but he's earned $500,000 in addition to that by pitching more than 160 innings. Those payments are deferred until next year.

When he reaches 170 innings, the Tigers will owe him another $250,000. Based on the number of innings he throws, his performance bonuses could total $2 million.

When a pitcher is 43 with those numbers, do you bring him back? Or do you find a taker, if you can? That scenario will play itself out this week.

There are times Rogers pitches well with nothing to show for it. Six times this year, he's allowed fewer than three earned runs and not come away with a victory. In his last six starts, however, he's 1-5 with a 7.34 ERA, making it possible decision-time is approaching.

This isn't an easy time for the Tigers, though.

They're in No Man's Land. They don't want to admit they're out of it, but neither do they believe they're in a pennant race.

Leyland previously said that if they could be five games back by Sept. 1, anything still could happen. But they're not going to be five games back, and it's not looking, even after a 4-2 trip, that anything other than playing for pride will happen.

"I think you lose credibility with people if you starting saying we're going to still win this thing," Leyland said. "But playing hard and grinding it out, that's automatic. As bad a player as I was, I could still hustle. I'm not worried about that at all.

"This is a tough time of year. You have to push yourself. Even at that, you're whistling Dixie if you think that teams as good as (the White Sox and Twins) have been are going to lose eight or nine in a row. That's not going to happen.

"It's very unlikely both of them are going to go into some fantastic funk. You're better off saying, 'Let's have some fun and see how many you win.' "

Blowing three-run leads to the Royals, though, is neither fun nor fits the heading of "how many you win."

You can reach Tom Gage at tom.gage@ detnews.com

08/25/2008 11:00 PM ET

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Bullpen falters late for Tigers
Glover serves up homer, as Detroit drops second straight
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

DETROIT -- Franklin Gutierrez hit a solo homer off Gary Glover in the top of the 10th inning, sending the Tigers to a 4-3 loss to the Indians on Monday at Comerica Park.

Two Grady Sizemore solo homers off Tigers starter Armando Galarraga helped Cleveland build a 3-1 lead after four innings and put the Tigers in position early for a series-opening loss. After Marcus Thames' 22nd home run of the season had accounted for Detroit's lone run, however, Edgar Renteria's leadoff homer in the fifth drew Detroit within a run.

Indians starter Zach Jackson retired seven in a row from there to take his one-run lead into the seventh, but Thames' one-out single knocked him out of the game. Masa Kobayashi allowed infield singles to both batters he faced, including a sharp ground ball from Brandon Inge down the third-base line that Andy Marte stopped but couldn't convert into an out as pinch-runner Matt Joyce came home with the tying run.

That took Galarraga off the hook for a potential loss. He salvaged a quality start with six innings of three-run ball and remained 3-0 in four starts against Cleveland this season.

The Tigers had a chance to pull ahead in the eighth with runners at second and third and two outs, but left-hander Rafael Perez did his job and retired Joyce. Tigers closer Fernando Rodney and Indians reliever Brendan Donnelly both retired the side in the ninth, sending the game into extra innings.

Casey Fossum began the 10th by sending down Sizemore, then manager Jim Leyland went with Glover (1-3) against the right-handed Gutierrez, who drove an 0-1 pitch into the left-field bullpen for his eighth home run on the season. With that, Detroit fell to 3-8 in extra-inning games this season.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Indians 4, Tigers 3 (10 inn.)
Indians tighten Tigers' lead -- for third place
Lynn Henning / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- They are the Indians, of course. For all the bruises they've endured this year, the guys from Cleveland seem always to have a big home run in their quivers when it turns to the late innings against Detroit.

The Indians now have won eight games in a row and suddenly are just a half-game behind the Tigers following Monday's 10-inning, 4-3 victory in front of 39,196 who turned out on a cool, clear night at Comerica Park.

Franklin Gutierrez's 10th-inning home run off Gary Glover was enough to polish off the Tigers, who had come back from a 3-1 hole to tie it in the seventh. But a tough night for the first six batters in Jim Leyland's lineup -- 3-for-25 -- did in Detroit.

"We just haven't been able to muster much of an offense," Leyland said. "We haven't been able to get big hits, or to add (runs) on."

The Tigers not only fell to 64-67 as their lamentable season heads into the final month, they did little to help their steadiest starting pitcher, Armando Galarraga, or a bullpen that was airtight until the 10th, when Gutierrez drove a Glover pitch into the seats in left field.

The Tigers got home runs from Marcus Thames and Edgar Renteria. They also gave the warning track in left field a workout.

Placido Polanco led off the 10th with a drive to the track in left field. Brandon Inge had sent one to the fence in the fifth. Renteria had launched another ball to the warning track leading off the ninth. Ryan Raburn, who took over for Carlos Guillen after he left the game because of back spasms, also hit a ground-ball missile to first with a pair of runners aboard and one out in the eighth. But first baseman Ryan Garko made a nifty play to help shut down what might have been a big inning.

"Nothing you can do," said Magglio Ordonez, who has a 5-for-29 string going, which has been marked almost as much by bad luck (line drives caught, liners just foul) as by the first semi-slump he has endured in the past two seasons. "It's a streaky game."

One guy who definitely isn't in a slump: Grady Sizemore, the gifted Indians center fielder who accounted for two early runs on a pair of homers that, combined, traveled more than 800 feet. The home runs were Sizemore's 30th and 31st and made him the 14th player in American League history to reach 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a single season.

He parked a Galarraga fastball over the left-center field fence leading off the first, then blasted another fastball three-quarters of the way up the right-field seats in the third inning.

Although he allowed eight hits and walked three in seven innings, Galarraga gave up only three runs. There were the two huge bombs by Sizemore, as well as a run in the fourth when Shin-Soo Choo's leadoff double and Garko's bloop single to left put the Indians ahead, 3-1.

"I thought he did really good job of pitching," Leyland said. "He gave up the solo homers, but it wasn't the end of the world. We just haven't been mustering much offense."

The Tigers scored their first run in the second on Thames' mammoth home run near the flagpole in deep left-center. They cut the lead to 3-2 in the fifth on Renteria's eighth home run of the year, into the bullpen in left.

They tied it in the seventh by way of a one-out single by Thames, who made it to second on a wild pitch and to third on Renteria's line-drive single off the glove of second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera. Inge followed with a hard grounder past the bag at third that only could be knocked down by Andy Marte as the tying run scored.

Until the 10th, the Tigers bullpen pitched neatly after Galarraga departed. Kyle Farnsworth (eighth inning, one hit) and Fernando Rodney (ninth, two strikeouts) kept the Indians from doing what they so love to do at the 11th hour.

This time, they waited until the 10th inning to get the big hit the Tigers couldn't match.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

08/26/2008 9:54 PM ET

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Tigers give up four homers in loss
Lambert allows two earned runs in Major League debut
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

DETROIT -- The Tigers have historically given All-Star starter Cliff Lee trouble more often than any other team in the Majors. This was not one of those games.

On the day Major League Baseball unveiled its plans for instant replay on contested home runs, the Tigers fell to a barrage of Indians home runs that they'd rather not see again. Back-to-back solo shots from Jamey Carroll and Kelly Shoppach set up a six-run third inning on Tuesday night before Ben Francisco added a pair of two-run homers in a 10-4 loss that knocked Detroit into fourth place in the division.

All six third-inning runs came against Tigers starter Chris Lambert (0-1) in his Major League debut. He retired the side in order in the first two innings before Carroll led off the third with his first home run since Aug. 11, 2007. Four pitches later, Shoppach sent a Lambert fastball over the same area of left field.

Those were the lone earned runs of the inning. A ground ball that skirted through third baseman Ryan Raburn for a run-scoring error and a Jhonny Peralta line-drive single that bounced past left fielder Marcus Thames for another run, which turned the inning into a runaway rally. Four straight Indians reached base safely, capped by Carroll's RBI single to knock in another run, chased Lambert from the game.

Both Francisco home runs came off reliever Aquilino Lopez, giving Cleveland's young right fielder his first multi-homer game since he roughed up the Tigers for two solo shots on July 30 in Cleveland.

All that offense cleared an easy route for Lee (19-2) towards his fifth straight victory and his eighth in his last nine starts. The lone no-decision in that span came against the Tigers last month, when Detroit put up six runs in five innings off of him. He retired 10 of the first 12 Tigers he faced Tuesday before Thames' leadoff single set up a two-run fifth thanks to Raburn's RBI double and Brandon Inge's run-scoring single. Inge had two hits on the night.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Indians 10, Tigers 4
Cy Young fave drops Tigers to 4th place
Lee silences fading Detroit, improves to 19-2; Lambert struggles, but deserves better, in debut.
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- They're not going to do this, are they?

The Tigers aren't going to turn a hugely disappointing year into a genuine hold-your-nose stinker by slipping into the complete oblivion of fourth place and staying there are they?

They could.

Because with Tuesday night's 10-4 loss to the Indians, they just switched spots with the Tribe and are back in fourth for the first time since June 16.

There are two schools of thoughts about the standings when it becomes obvious a team isn't going to win. Some believe the difference between third and fourth is not large enough to alter the bottom-line truth you're an also-ran. Others believe every game, every win, still is important, no matter what.

"Sure it matters," manager Jim Leyland said. "You want to finish as high as you can. That goes along with winning as many games as you can. That old stuff about if you don't finish first, it doesn't matter. I don't buy that. Hopefully those who do aren't in our clubhouse."

The Indians have ascended with a nine-game winning streak while the Tigers have fiddled around at 4-5. The Indians also have climbed with the help of Cliff Lee, who with this victory became just the fourth pitcher since 1969 to win 19 of his first 21 decisions.

And to do it for a team with a losing record is really a rarity.

"It's an amazing story," Leyland said. "This guy went back to the minors last year, worked his butt off, did what he had to do, and here he is. I hope he wins the Cy Young."

Meanwhile, the Tigers appear dead in the water again.

After winning four of five, they've now lost three in a row. With 30 games left, they'd have to go 17-13 to finish at .500. A 12-18 record in their last 30, however, doesn't make it look like they are about to do so.

If they finish in fourth and under .500, you're not going to have to wonder where that fertilizer aroma is coming from. You'll know.

"Pretty much all year long, it looks like we might get something going, then we get into these funks where we just look terrible," Leyland said. "It's hard to explain. We're too good to play the way we have."

Whether Tigers starter Chris Lambert deserved better in his major league debut is a moot point because even if he had pitched better, the defensive lapses behind him would have been his downfall.

"My fastball was just kind of flat," he said. "That can't happen at Triple A. That can't happen especially here."

Two of the six runs he allowed in 2 2/3 innings were earned. Granted, they were on consecutive homers by Jamey Carroll and Kelly Shoppach to begin the third after Lambert retired the first six batters.

And granted, Lambert allowed three more hits in the third while the Indians were making it a six-run inning, but the Tigers played terrible defense behind him, not just in the two errors they made but in some of the balls they simply didn't get to.

"He got a little fastball happy," said Leyland, "but we didn't help him much. It should not have been as bad as it looked."

But it was. The Tigers looked like a team sliding down the standings, which this time they were. Their only runs off Lee in his 7 2/3 innings came in the fifth. After the third, they never were in it.

And just to be sure, the Indians hit two more home runs, both two-run shots from Ben Francisco, and both off Aquilino Lopez -- making it three home runs by Francisco in his last three official at-bats against the Tigers reliever.